Techniques for introducing devices to device families with paper receipt

• US 20070170238A1
• Filed: 01/26/2006
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Piersol, Kurt, Hart, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 7,900,817 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities

Abstract

Techniques for introducing devices to device families. Membership in a device family allows a device certain privileges such as the ability to engage in secure communications with another device in the same device family. A device is made a member of a device family by communicating to the device from a base station a ticket that is representative of the device family. The base station may also generate a paper receipt confirming the membership of the device in the device family.

Claims

1. A method of making a device a member of a device family, the method comprising:

receiving, at a base station, a request to make a device a member of a device family;

generating, at the base station, a ticket for the device family based upon information associated with the device family, the ticket representative of membership of the device in the device family;

communicating the ticket from the base station to the device; and

printing a paper receipt indicating membership of the device in the device family.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

regenerating the ticket using the paper receipt, wherein the regenerating is performed without using the base station.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the paper receipt comprises printed information comprising information identifying the device, information identifying the device family, and a representation of the ticket, wherein a portion of the printed information enables regeneration of the ticket independent of the base station.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating the ticket for the device family comprises:

determining, at the base station, a key phrase associated with the device family; and

generating the ticket at the base station using the key phrase.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating the ticket for the device family comprises:

communicating the information associated with the device family from the base station to the device;

receiving, at the base station from the device, a partial ticket generated by the device by encrypting the information associated with the device family using a private key of the device; and

encrypting, at the base station, the partial ticket received from the device using a private key of the base station to generate the ticket for the device family.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the ticket enables the device to assert membership in the device family.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the ticket enables the device to assert membership in the device family to another device that is a member of the device family and to establish secure communications with the another device upon successful assertion of the membership.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing, at the base station, information related to the ticket, information identifying the device family, a public key of the device, and the information associated with the device family that is used to generate the ticket.

9. A method of making a device a member of a device family, the method comprising:

communicating a request from a first device to a base station requesting the first device to be made a member of a device family;

receiving, at the first device, a ticket from the base station, the ticket generated by the base station for the device family using information associated with the device family, wherein the ticket is representative of membership of the first device in the device family; and

the first device asserting membership in the device family using the ticket.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

generating a paper receipt at the base station, the paper receipt indicating membership of the first device in the device family; and

regenerating the ticket using the paper receipt, wherein the regenerating is performed without using the base station

11. The method of claim 9 wherein receiving the ticket from the base station comprises:

receiving the information associated with the device family at the first device from the base station;

generating a partial ticket at the first device by encrypting the information associated with the device family using a private key of the first device;

communicating the partial ticket to the base station; and

receiving, from the base station, the ticket for the device family, the ticket generated by the base station by encrypting the partial ticket received from the first device using a private key of the base station.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

storing, at the first device, information related to the ticket, information identifying the device family, information identifying a public key of the base station, and the information associated with the device family that is used to generate the ticket.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

regenerating a portion of the information stored by the first device using a paper receipt generated by the base station.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

determining if a second device is a member of the device family; and

enabling communications between the first device and the second device if the second device is determined to be a member of the device family.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein determining if the second device is a member of the device family comprises:

receiving, at the first device from the second device, a ticket stored by the second device for the device family; and

determining if the second device is a member of the device family based upon the ticket received from the second device.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein determining if the second device is a member of the device family comprises:

receiving, at the first device from the second device, a ticket stored by the second device for the device family;

decrypting, at the first device, the ticket received from the second device using a public key of the base station to produce a first result;

decrypting, at the fist device, the first result using a public key of the second device to produce a second result; and

determining that the second device is a member of the device family if the second result is same as the information associated with the device family that is used by the base station to generate the ticket received by the first device from the base station.

17. A system comprising:

a communication module;

a processor; and

a printing module;

wherein the communication module is configured to receive a request from a device to make the device a member of a device family;

wherein the processor is configured to generate a ticket responsive to the request, the ticket generated based upon information associated with the device family, wherein the ticket is representative of membership of the device in the device family;

wherein the communication module is configured to communicate the ticket to the device; and

wherein the printing module is configured to print a paper receipt indicating membership of the device in the device family.

18. The system of claim 17 further comprising:

a second processor configured to regenerate the ticket using the paper receipt.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the paper receipt comprises printed information comprising information identifying the device, information identifying the device family, and a representation of the ticket, wherein a portion of the printed information enables regeneration of the ticket.

20. The system of claim 17 further comprising:

a memory storing information identifying a set of one or more device families and a key phrase associated with each device family;

wherein the processor is configured to;

determine, from the memory, a key phrase associated with the device family; and

generate the ticket using the key phrase.

21. The system of claim 17 wherein:

the communication module is configured to;

communicate the information associated with the device family to the device; and

receive a partial ticket generated by the device by encrypting the information associated with the device family using a private key of the device; and

wherein the processor is configured to encrypt the partial ticket received from the device using a private key of the system to generate the ticket for the device family.

22. The system of claim 17 wherein the ticket enables the device to assert membership in the device family and to avail of a privilege arising from the membership.

23. The system of claim 17 further comprising:

a memory storing information related to the ticket, information identifying the device family, a public key of the device, and the information associated with the device family that is used to generate the ticket.

24. A system comprising:

a base station; and

a first device;

wherein the base station;

receives a request from the first device to become a member of a device family;

receives generate a ticket responsive to the request, the ticket generated based upon information associated with the device family accessible to the base station, the ticket representative of membership of the first device in the device family;

communicates the ticket to the first device; and

prints a paper receipt indicating membership of the first device in the device family.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the first device regenerates the ticket using the paper receipt, wherein the regenerating is performed without using the base station.

26. The system of claim 24 wherein:

the base station communicates the information associated with the device family to the first device;

the first device generates a partial ticket by encrypting the information associated with the device family using a private key of the first device and communicates the partial ticket to the base station; and

the base station generates the ticket by encrypting the partial ticket received from the first device using a private key of the base station.

27. The system of claim 24 wherein:

the first device stores information related to the ticket, information identifying the device family, information identifying a public key of the base station, and the information associated with the device family that is used to generate the ticket.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the first device regenerates a portion of the information stored by the first device using a paper receipt generated by the base station.

29. The system of claim 24 wherein the first device:

determines if a second device is a member of the device family; and

enables communications between the first device and the second device if the second device is determined to be a member of the device family.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein the first device:

receives, from the second device, a ticket stored by the second device for the device family; and

determines if the second device is a member of the device family based upon the ticket received from the second device.

31. The system of claim 29 wherein the first device:

receives, from the second device, a ticket stored by the second device for the device family;

decrypts the ticket received from the second device using a public key of the base station to produce a first result;

decrypts the first result using a public key of the second device to produce a second result; and

determines that the second device is a member of the device family if the second result is same as the information associated with the device family that is used by the base station to generate the ticket received by the first device from the base station.